In this episode, the hosts are joined by Sydney Avis and her father, Victor Avis, DDS, creators of The Airway Revolution Foundation. “The Airway Revolution Foundation is a non profit organization with a team of medical professionals and advocates who seek to save millions of lives by revolutionizing the current thinking, diagnosis, and treatment of airway related challenges.”
Sydney and Dr. Avis tell the compelling story of Sydney’s journey from experiencing chronic exhaustion all her life despite being young and healthy, to finally breaking through and finding the underlying issue, then being able to have life-changing surgery based on her diagnosis. The two describe their reasoning behind creating the powerful film Airway: The Battle to Breathe, and their mission to get more information about airway blockage out to the public. This documentary is still in production, but you can get a first look at airwaydocumentary.com.
Dr. Avis also details that although someone may be diagnosed with “mild” sleep apnea, the health consequences could be severe. Sydney and Dr. Avis dive into the importance of a patient educating themself and being their own advocate. No solution would have been found if the two of them hadn’t asked “Why?”
“The reality is that, as a young person, I was coping okay. I was exhausted and I didn’t feel good, but I wasn’t deathly ill, and people would look at me and say ‘You’re fine, you’re okay,” but the reality is that with airway issues, you cope, but each day it’s going to get worse.” - Sydney Avis
Keep asking "why?"!
References:
Airwaydocumentary.com
Airwayrevolution.org
Social Media:
Instagram: @askwhymedicine
Facebook: @askwhymedicine